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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27121690">Dark Pyrrha</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Accipiter_Ater/pseuds/Accipiter_Ater'>Accipiter_Ater</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>RWBY</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Villainous Reimagining of Hero, Implications of Childhood Manipulation, Pyrrha OOC, Villain Pyrrha</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:21:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>21,102</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27121690</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Accipiter_Ater/pseuds/Accipiter_Ater</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>As someone who enjoys fics where the good guys are reimagined as villains, I wanted to read something that gave Pyrrha this treatment. Apparently, no one else had written this prompt, so I decided to take a shot at it. This is the result.</p><p>What if the sweet, humble Pyrrha we know was a lie, an act, to put Ozpin and the world at ease. What if Pyrrha was behind the criminal goings-on in Vale. What if Pyrrha was the half-maiden. </p><p>This is an examination of that Pyrrha. A girl once driven by a desire to be the best, to be perfect, whose desire warped and twisted to become a need for power. She will stop at nothing to sate this desire, even destroy the world.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. New Darkness</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Pyrrha was on edge.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was born of a combination of things. The botched dust robbery from a week ago was the most recent stress on Pyrrha. It turned out it was a good idea she had changed her mind at the last minute and decided to go herself. Cinder had an excellent grasp of dust usage, but Pyrrha didn’t think Cinder was good enough to handle Beacon’s deputy headmistress. Thankfully just half of the maiden’s power she was enough to give her the edge. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then there was her role; Pyrrha would be forced to give control to her false self as she did at her tournaments. However, instead of it only being a few days at most, it would be for several months. Until the Vytal Festival, Pyrrha would have to play the socially awkward, humble athlete. She hated it; she wanted to show off and take advantage of her standing, not hide from it like it made her uncomfortable.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And finally, there was her mission, she was to be the first layer of their infiltration; however, unlike Cinder, who would show up in a few weeks with their backup, Pyrrha would be going in alone. Alone in the greatest fortress of her mistress’s enemy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leaning back in the airship, Pyrrha closed her eyes and thought back on how she ended up here. Her mistress approached her years ago at the beginning of her rise on the dueling circuit. Then Pyrrha had considered the acting a small price to pay. It began simply enough. Her mistress said she knew a way to boost aura, and this intrigued Pyrrha. All she wanted was to be the best at that point in her life, and more aura wouldn't hurt. It was still her aura, after all. All she had to do to gain this gift was keep it a secret and act the way her mistress told her. After Pyrrha made her promise, she was gifted a small pair of red and black stud earrings and told to wear them at all times but to take them off an hour before her fights. They worked as promised. When she fought without the earings, she always seemed to have more aura than when she was practicing, so Pyrrha held up her end of the bargain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At first, it was not even really an act. She really did feel humbled by her wins, but it got boring as she grew older, especially after the media started calling her the Invincible Girl. Who wouldn’t want to make the most of that name, but no, her Mistress said she needed to keep up the lie. However, there was a reward or, as it would turn out more of an incentive, her mistress had chosen her to receive an extraordinary power, the only catch being she had to take it herself. This incentive got Pyrrha quickly back onboard as by then, her need for perfection had twisted into a desire for power.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Pyrrha was fourteen, a lot began to change in her life as she was drawn in deeper with her mistress. She learned of Ozpin’s little cabal that apparently ran the world and how they represented what was wrong with the world. They kept the people weak and cowed, only permitting a select few to learn their arts. She learned how the only way to change things would be to tear everything down and rebuild it. About two years ago, her liaisons had deemed her well enough on side; she was taken to meet her mistress. Professor Lionheart made excuses for to explain why she would be gone to her parents, and she was taken deep into the Grimmlands. This location should have been a signal that she had made a mistake, but by then, she was invested enough that she did not see it as a negative. After all, if her mistress could control the grimm then once her group began to rebuild after the old order was torn down, the new people would not need to fear the creatures of grimm. So Pyrrha was barely even phased when she first laid eyes on Salem. What else would the queen of the grimm look like except a hybrid of human and monster?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was this visit where she first met Cinder. The girl was a few years older than Pyrrha herself and seemed to hate her on sight. Salem told her it was because Cinder had wanted to be the one to wield the maidens’ powers. When the two girls failed to settle their differences on their own, Salem stepped in. She demanded the two duel; the winner would become Salem’s dark maiden the loser Salem would find other uses for. The only rule was they were not to kill each other.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cinder was good; Pyrrha gave her that. Her rival’s mastery of dust sorcery was unmatched by any she had fought before. But this was not a tournament nobody was telling Pyrrha to hide her semblance here, and Cinder’s blades were still made of metal. Despite the whirling mass of superheated dust and glass, Pyrrha was the winner.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Salem then made Pyrrha sleep in the same room as Cinder while she stayed in the castle in the Grimmlands. Their mistress said that they would work together one day, so they would need to learn to get along. It had been a slow process, but slowly throughout several visits, Pyrrha found herself while not quite being able to call Cinder a friend at the very least, she considered her a tentative ally. As long as Pyrrha held the upper hand in the power balance between them, Cinder would do what she said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Over the following year, it became harder and harder for Pyrrha to hide her extracurricular excursions from her parents. So, she moved out on her fifteenth birthday, getting a modest apartment in Mistral. Cinder also unofficially moved in with her as she needed to establish a presence in Mistral for their future plans.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The next year and a half had been pretty dull., Pyrrha fought in several tournaments, but most of her time was taken up by intelligence gathering. She made many trips to Vale to stalk the movements of Ozpin’s Fall Maiden. Just a few months before she was due to turn seventeen, Pyrrha began to put her plan into action. She started by recruiting some help. She found Emerald in the city of Vale itself. A part of her pitied the street kid; she had no idea what she was about to get involved in, but the girl wouldn’t bite the hand that fed her and possessed an enormously powerful semblance, so Pyrrha pushed her sympathy aside and took her in. Her next target was the assassin, Marcus Black. However, by the time she tracked him down, he had found himself permanently indisposed at the hands of his son. Pyrrha took this in stride and procured the services of the son, Mercury, instead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>From there, it was relatively simple to plan the attack. Emerald would use her semblance to take the maiden off her guard, and then Emerald and Mercury would rush in to secure her while Pyrrha did the dirty work. Cinder would be backup. One thing that Pyrrha was still worried about, with one and if Cinder's backup was needed potentially two other girls there, how was she to be sure the power would pass on to her. She brought this up to Salem when she next spoke to her mistress. Salem had apparently been expecting Pyrrha to ask this question because her mistress already had a solution presenting a small grimm. Salem showed Pyrrha the grimm shift into a glove and explained that it would leech the maiden’s power into her. The only cost would be a sliver of her humanity. Pyrrha was thrilled; she had been provided an assured way to make sure the power went to her, she was so excited that the cost barely registered. And so Pyrrha set a date for just a few days after her seventeenth birthday.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The attack had gone off without a hitch until they were interrupted at the very end by one of Ozpin’s cronies. The group of four managed to escape with their identities intact, but unfortunately, only half of the maiden’s power.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That had been no more than three weeks ago. Since then, Pyrrha had bent Taurus’s White Fang cell and Roman Torchwick along with his sidekick to her cause. Yet just as things were kicking off, Pyrrha had to run to Beacon and leave most of the day to day running of her operation to Cinder while she went off to play schoolgirl in Ozpin’s fortress. At least they had an open campus policy; Pyrrha thought, as long as she was not required to be in class, she could do as she liked so she would be available to step in if needed.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Orientation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Pyrrha hung back at the entrance to the theater to watch the other students file past. When she thought all the students had entered the hall, she moved toward the crowd. However, a final pair of students made her stop in her tracks. The boy did not carry too much interest to her, but the girl did. It was the same girl from the dust shop a week ago.</p><p>The rational part of her mind told her that the girl did not recognize her. She had her mask on and was shadowed by the interior of the bullhead. If she had been found out, the Deputy Headmistress would have been all over her the moment she stepped off the airship. If the Deputy Headmistress had not recognized her, then there is no way the girl had.</p><p>However, she had not made it as far as she had in her life without a healthy level of paranoia, and that part of her mind sent little doubts into her mind. What if the girl had recognized her? What if she went to the Deputy? It would all be over before she could begin.</p><p>Pyrrha would need to keep half an eye on the girl, at least for the first few weeks of classes. She watched as the girl ran off to join a blonde girl in the crowd she seemed to know. The boy she had left behind called after the girl and muttered to himself. Pyrrha followed him with her eyes as he went to find a place in the crowd. He seemed to have a connection with the girl from the store. Maybe he would be a decent point to watch her through. She would consider that going forward.</p><p>Slipping into the crowd, Pyrrha let her false self come to the forefront. Her posture changed slightly, hands held together in front of her instead of loose at her sides, head bowed forward a tad, and eyes widened innocently. Her false self flicked her eyes back to the blonde boy the girl came in with before dutifully snapping up to the stage when Ozpin walked onto the stage.</p><p>Both of her selves were offended when Ozpin called the assembled students wasted potential. She had fought hard and trained harder to get where she was, and the insult did nothing to inspire confidence in her. Though she thought what more did she expect from someone with Ozpin's background, of course, he would look down on the Beacon hopefuls. They were nothing but cannon fodder to him.</p><p>Pyrrha could not for the life of her understand what the purpose of Ozpin's speech had been. It could not have been to inspire. If anything, it was depressing. Maybe he was trying to scare the week off. After all, the fearful could not be counted on to die in the face of the grimm.</p><p>Following the Headmaster's speech, the Deputy Headmistress stepped up to the mic to dismiss the hopefuls to the ballroom to prepare for their initiation the following morning.</p><p>Pyrrha let her mind wander as her false self set up the small tent she had brought. It only fit her sleeping bag, and nothing else she had brought it more for privacy than anything else. Once that was done, she decided to take a quick nap. She wanted to get as much time in exploring Beacon's grounds for the former Fall Maiden's hiding place before she could no longer use getting lost as an excuse. That meant she had to start tonight, but she still needed to be well-rested for initiation tomorrow, so this was her compromise.</p><p>Pyrrha woke an hour and a half later as the doors opened and several large tables were wheeled in loaded down with food. She quickly peaked out of her tent to see how everyone else was dressed. Seeing everyone was still in the outfits they arrived in, Pyrrha quickly squirmed back into her combat outfit and stepped out to get something to eat. She thought about attempting to brush past the girl from the shop to see if there was any reaction, but she ultimately decided it was better to leave her false self in control and stick to her lonesome. She grabbed a few sandwiches, a bowl of salad, and a water bottle and made her way back to her claimed area.</p><p>As she ate, Pyrrha had to continually deal with other initiates coming up to chat with the great Invincible Girl. Well, by deal, Pyrrha meant preening mentally while her false self blushed and did her best to dismiss them politely. At least no one tried to hit on her. The Schnee heiress on the other side of the hall was not having so much luck. Every few minutes, the crack of a slap would echo across the hall as another guy slunk away from the Schnee girl. Pyrrha supposed her stature and reputation had some advantages.</p><p>Eventually, people stopped trying to hold a conversation with her, and Pyrrha was finally able to eat in peace. Slowly as people finished their food, they got up to change into pajamas. A bunch of guys got together in the middle of the hall shirtless and started stretching, trying to put on a show for the gathered girls. Pyrrha took this as her cue to change. She slipped back into her tent, removed her armor, and put on a simple black button-up top and matching pants before pulling her hair out of its signature ponytail, allowing it to hang in a sheet behind her. Pyrrha then stepped out of her tent and tried to lake her way to the door so she could go exploring. Conveniently, at that moment, a scuffle broke out in the center of the room, which drew everyone's attention, allowing her to slip out unnoticed.</p><p>Pyrrha brushed her false self to the side as she closed the door, her expression cooling into a focused scowl. She wandered the halls for a bit, looking for any indications of secret doors or other suspicious fixtures. She next went to find the infirmary, she was reasonably sure that Ozpin would not have the maiden laying in the open there, but she thought that maybe there would be a secret room nearby so medical equipment would not have to be carted too far to treat the girl. Unfortunately, she quickly realized the infirmary was in another building, which meant she would have to go outside. She found a side door. That opened into an ally between two buildings. Pyrrha crept out into the night.</p><p>As Pyrrha walked around, she quickly noticed that there were no lights on anywhere on campus except the dorms and Beacon Tower. Pyrrha expected this would make her job that much harder. It would be difficult to tell where the infirmary was from the outside if it was unlit. So when she rounded a corner and saw a red cross glowing on the side of the building across the way, she let out a quiet sigh.</p><p>Moving to the door, Pyrrha tried the handle. It was open, and she stepped inside. Pyrrha placed a hand on the wall and called on her semblance on a low level that gave her a sense for the metallic objects behind the wall. As she walked along, she traced out the pipes and wires running through the wall, looking for any oddities or deviations that might indicate an entrance to a secret chamber. She made it to the other end of the hall and was about to turn to make her way to the staircase to check the top floor. Someone cleared their throat, and she froze.</p><p>Frantically throwing her false self to the front, her innocent mask had just barely snapped in place as she turned to face whoever caught her. Internally Pyrrha sighed in relief; it wasn't the headmistress; instead, it appeared to be a nurse.</p><p>"Can I help you, Miss?"</p><p>Pyrrha took her hands off the controls and let her awkward alter-ego run the show. Her false self blushed and swept a lock of hair behind her ear and then twisting it around a finger. "Sorry if I woke you. I umm went out for a short walk before I went to sleep, and I got a bit turned around. I thought there might be someone who could help me here. I'm one of the new students so if you could just point me back to the ballroom. Sorry."</p><p>The nurse gave her directions and wished her good night. Her false self threw out a final "Sorry" over her shoulder as she walked out the door. Pyrrha did not dare to reassert her control until she was back in her little tent. Pyrrha took a few breaths as she settled her mind and slowly fell asleep.</p><hr/><p>AN: Hey everyone I'm back! This story got a ton of positive feedback so I have worked hard to deliver a new chapter of Dark Pyrrha.</p><p>Also, I have a new Twitter account now, so follow me there Accipiter_Ater. I post updates for various projects I'm working on like my fics and my YouTube channel, and art for my fics like the Pyrrha edit I made to become this fic's cover on other websites and art of my team from <em>Second String.</em> I'd love to build a community so feel free to reach out to me there. I hope to see you there.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Initiation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Pyrrha had laughed at the Schnee girl the previous night for being unable to throw off the attention she naturally drew to herself. However, the girl was apparently unconcerned with giving the same attention out. The girl was standing beside Pyrrha’s locker as she finished preparing for the initiation badgering Pyrrha about team selection.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha understood the advantages of befriending the Schnee heiress, so she allowed her false self to respond with a bland affirmative, which made the heiress turn away and begin mumbling to herself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The heiress’s muttering cut off by one of Pyrrha’s actual targets, the boy who had befriended the red-cloaked girl from the dust shop. He introduced himself as Jaune Arc and had been the most persistent of the heiress’s admirers the night before, and it seemed he had come back for more. Maybe he would be more responsive to a celebrity that was more open to his advances?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Prodding her false self, Pyrrha rushed forward into Jaune’s field of view to greet him, “Nice to meet you, Jaune.” Pyrrha reached out to place a hand on his shoulder. However, before she could, Jaune brushed her aside to continue hitting on the heiress.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha was confused. Nobody had ever dismissed her like that before. It was like he didn’t know who she was. It was a new feeling, and she wasn’t sure whether she liked it or not.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha had only been half paying attention to what Jaune was saying, but Pyrrha attempted to butt back into the conversation when he mentioned partners. “You know,” Pyrrha placed a hand on his shoulder, “I heard teams are made up of four members, so maybe-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Finally, Jaune rounded on her, “You don’t say. Well, hot stuff, play your cards right, and maybe you can join up with the winning team.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Progress, now, she just had to real him in. As she smiled, she unleashed a bit of her false self, which allowed a slight blush to color her cheeks. And then the heiress stepped in again, pushing them apart.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha was fuming Schnee was going to make her lose her in with the red-hooded girl. Not wanting the discontent to show on her face, Pyrrha put her false self into control. She barely registered the heiress saying her name so she could respond with an offhand greeting.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha tuned back in as the heiress listed off her accomplishments. Jaune responded in the negative to each until the heiress listed probably Pyrrha’s least favorite accolade, the Pumpkin Pete’s sponsorship, and Jaune finally recognized her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The heiress then used her achievements to tell Jaune off. He seemed about to leave, so Pyrrha jumped in again to lift him up, encouraging him to become a team leader. The fact that this action annoyed the heiress had nothing to do with it. However, then Jaune took it too far and began advancing into the heiress’s personal space. Schnee freaked out and called for Pyrrha’s help. For her part, Pyrrha threw </span>
  <span>Miló</span>
  <span> into Jaune’s hood pinning him to the nearby row of lockers. Pyrrha even remembered to shout a, “I’m sorry,” after the boy as he hit the wall.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>An announcement played over the speakers calling them to the cliffside, and Pyrrha followed the heiress out and slipping her false self back into control. As she walked by his landing point, Pyrrha grabbed her spear from Jaune’s hoodie and smiled down at him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It was nice meeting you.” Pyrrha allowed her false self to smile shyly at him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His response was a somewhat glum, “Likewise.”</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha found herself in the middle of the line of hopeful students between the heiress and a boy with a messy green mohawk. She sat quietly as Ozpin explained how initiation would work. She was intrigued by the eye contact rule. That could make it very easy to secure Jaune as a partner if she could just pin him down so she could find him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then Jaune began to ask questions of Ozpin. However, Pyrrha did not get a chance to listen long as her platform launched her into the sky. As she flew through the air, she thought she heard Jaune scream. Quickly curling up behind Akoúo and using a few unfortunate tree branches to slow herself down, Pyrrha stopped and perched on a limb and converted </span>
  <span>Miló</span>
  <span> into its javelin form. Pyrrha then sighted in on Jaune and launched </span>
  <span>Miló</span>
  <span> at him to pin him to a tree in the distance. Pyrrha then set off to track him down.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha’s run to where she pinned Jaune was reasonably straightforward. Her association with Salem gave her a modicum of kinship with the grimm, and they would leave her alone unless she made some major transgression against them, so all she had to do was stay away from other students and hope no one found Jaune.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was extremely dismayed when she got to Jaune and saw the Schnee girl staring up at him. However, the heiress simply turned on her heel and walked back into the forest where Pyrrha could just about make out her talking with another person. Glad she was gone, Pyrrha presented herself and looked up at the boy she had pinned to the tree.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jaune?” Pyrrha let another of her false self’s shy smiles cross her features. Do you... have any spots left on your team?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune looked down at her and crossed his arms, “Very funny,” Jaune returned her smile, “but can you get me down now?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course.” Pyrrha concentrated on her semblance, “Now it is not that far to the ground. I am going to pull </span>
  <span>Miló</span>
  <span> out, but you will need to catch yourself.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune nodded at her, “Alright on my count,” Pyrrha said, “Three, two, one, brace!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha yanked </span>
  <span>Miló</span>
  <span> down toward her, and Jaune fell… </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And failed to catch himself, knocking the wind out of him and landing on his face. Pyrrha dropped to her knees to pat him on his back to get the air back into him. Eventually, Jaune stood up, and they started moving through the forest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A while later, they heard gunfire, which distracted Jaune, and a branch that Pyrrha had pushed out of the way smacked him in the face and knocked him down again. This time as he sat up, Pyrrha noticed that he had gotten a cut on his face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh Jaune, I’m sorry,” her false self was on top of things keeping her face in check.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune smiled at her, “It’s ok; it’s just a scratch.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>However, Pyrrha’s concern quickly changed to confusion, “Why didn’t you activate your aura.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My what?” Jaune cocked his head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Your aura.” Now Pyrrha was getting concerned. What had she signed up for with Jaune?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Gesundheit.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jaune? Do you know what aura is?” Pyrrha was pretty sure what the answer would be, but she had to ask.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Psch! Of course, I do!” Jaune was getting defensive, “Do </span>
  <em>
    <span>you </span>
  </em>
  <span>know what aura is?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha smirked at Jaune. “Aura is the huntsman’s greatest tool; it is the manifestation of our souls. It is their support and strength. It is what makes them special.” Pyrrha had resigned herself to teaching Jaune since he could not have come to this school by entirely legal means without aura, so she would have to get him to at least passing to avoid extra scrutiny on herself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“With practice, Aura can be your shield and be made to protect you. All life has it; the grimm, however, cannot have an aura as they have no soul. They are a plague against humanity.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Right, that’s why we fight them!” Jaune piped up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha internally rolled her eyes, “It’s not about the why; it’s about balance. Humanity has darkness inside it too, and to understand yourself and manifest your aura, you have to understand that darkness as well as the light you carry.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune was staring at her, enthralled as Pyrrha continued her explanation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“By bending your soul outwards, you can protect yourself from incoming harm. All our tools and weapons act as conduits for our aura so we can protect ourselves and our soul when in combat.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune jumped in again, “It’s like a force-field!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha tried her best to smile, “If you want to look at it that way.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And now onto the hard part. She was not one hundred percent sure if she could unlock Jaune’s aura, but she had to try.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So she began her chant, “For it is through force we achieve victory. Through this, we reach the pinnacle of strength and glory, to rise above all, infinite in power and unbound by battle.” Pyrrha reached down and place a hand over Jaune’s heart, “I release your soul and by my blade protect thee.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha slumped over while Jaune continued to glow. Jaune looked down at her concern etched across his face. “Pyrrha?” His voice came out as a question.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It did not take long for Pyrrha to recover and stand up. “Don’t worry, Jaune,” She let a genuine smile slip across her face as the scratch on his face began to vanish, “I used my aura to unlock yours, but the power that protects you now is your own. You have a lot, the most I’ve ever seen.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And he did; maybe this partnership would not be a total waste if she could train him up; Jaune had potential.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha beckoned Jaune forward, “Shall we continue?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune stood and nodded. They trekked through the forest for several minutes before they arrived at the edge, where they discovered a cave with pictures of people fighting grimm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune turned to Pyrrha, “You think this is it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha was about to give her opinion when Jaune turned away, “I’m sure this is it.” Jaune began wandering about the outside of the cave, looking at the ground. “I just need- hmm. Ah! There!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune swiped a thick stick off the ground near the forest’s edge. He then pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wrapped it around one end of the stick. Jaune next produced small dust lighter from another pocket and lit the cloth making a makeshift torch.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright!” Jaune motioned towards the cave, “Let’s go.” Jaune started walking into the cave, leaving Pyrrha not much choice but to follow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It did not take Pyrrha long to get a bad feeling about the cave. A chill of recognition ran up her right arm, and through the rest of her body, something was living here, and it was definitely not a wild animal. She really did not need to come across an elder grimm right now. They always seemed to react more favorably to her than the younger ones, and she could not have Ozpin see that. She needed to get them to leave. Now.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha reached forward and tapped Jaune on the shoulder, “I don’t think this is the temple, Jaune. We should go.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune only sighed, “Come on, Pyrrha, I made the torch can you at least humor me for, like, five more feet?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Immediately after the words left his mouth, Jaune tripped in the stumble. Jaune lost his hold on the torch casting it into a puddle. The torch sputtered out, instantly bathing them in darkness.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A warm breeze brushed across Pyrrha. Concerned, she asked her partner if he felt it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her partner issued a grumbling reply, “Soul-crushing regret?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No,” apprehension crept into Pyrrha’s voice, “it’s… warm.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha heard more than saw her partner move deeper into the cave and called after him, “Jaune, I really think we should turn around.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nah, come on, Pyrrha, it’s got to be here. It can’t be much farther now.” Pyrrha heard him take a few more shuffling steps before he gasped, “I found it, Pyrrha, it’s right here!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha stumbled her way around a bend in the tunnel and saw what Jaune was looking at. It seemed to be a large glowing bauble floating in the dark. A bauble Pyrrha was familiar with it was the stinger of a death stalker.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha was about to speak when Jaune reached for the stinger. Only for it to bounce out of his reach. “Hey, bad relic!” Jaune jumped at the light and managed to hang onto it this time, “Ah-ha! Gotcha!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The stinger lifted into to air, pulling her partner with it. The grimm then revealed itself. All the red lines of its body glowed as it held Jaune up to its eyes. Jaune screamed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> Well, this could not get any worse, her partner was going to get killed right here, and she would fail initiation and, more importantly, fail her mistress. Well, there was nothing for it; she would have to fight. Pyrrha unslung her weapons from her back, shouldered Miló in its rifle form, and fired a few shots into the deathstalker’s face. At the same time, she offered a silent apology to her mistress as her next actions would almost certainly lead to the destruction of what must be a truly ancient grimm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The beast cocked its head at her, and Pyrrha made a come at me motion with her right hand. At that motion, the monster unleashed a clicking roar and charged her. Pyrrha turned and ran. She could hear the death stalker smashing apart the small tunnel she and Jaune had used to make space for itself as it chased her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Once she was out of the cave, Pyrrha turned to face the cave watching as the cliff face exploded outward to reveal the true size of the grimm. Surprisingly, Jaune was still clinging to the death stalker’s tail and screaming, or maybe it was more crying, “Help! Whoa-ah-ah-ah-ah! Why?! Pyrrha! He-e-e-elp! Pyrrha, this is not the relic! It's not! Do something!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Whatever you do, Jaune, I need you to not,” the death stalker cocked its tail back, “let,” the deathstalker flung its tail forward, “go,” and Jaune went sailing off over the trees.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, for Brothers’ sake,” Pyrrha muttered to herself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The death stalker was still staring her down as she stood there. Shrugging her shoulders, Pyrrha squeezed off a few more shots at the beast before darting away and shouting over her shoulder, “Come on, big guy!” With another grating roar, Pyrrha was being pursued through the trees by the enormous scorpion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The grimm made quick work of the trees between it and Pyrrha as it closed in on her tail. Up ahead, she saw a clearing and what appeared to be several students. As she burst into the clearing, Pyrrha narrowly managed to dodge under one of the beast’s claws and continue running to the other students. Pyrrha saw Jaune in a tree on the far side of the clearing, and she called out to him. He answered back with her name. That was good he was alive, so she still had a chance to pass the initiation. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Unfortunately, she still had the small issue of the death stalker on her tail. It took most of her concentration to stay out of its claws. A particularly messy dodge left Pyrrha on her face at the feet of the gathered group of students. “Great, the gang’s all here,” the blonde girl dust shop-girl seemed to know joked, “Now we can die together!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dust shop-girl turned to the death stalker and shouted, “Not if I can help it!” She then charged the grimm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ruby, wait!” the blonde called after dust shop-girl though Pyrrha figured her name must be Ruby.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby did not heed the blonde and continued her wild charge only to be batted aside by the death stalker. The blonde called after Ruby again and rushed forward only to be cut off by a barrage of feathers from the giant nevermore that had been circling this whole time. One of the feathers had pinned Ruby’s cloak to the ground, and she was struggling to free herself the blonde shouting encouragement at her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha was trying to figure out what to do as the death stalker approached Ruby, raising its stinger. However, she did not get much time to think as the strike was stopped at the last second by a wall of ice created by the Schnee girl, who then scolded Ruby for her actions before making a deal with her apparent partner to be nicer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Everyone reconvened at the temple to talk about what to do next. Ultimately, the group decided just to grab relics and make it back to the cliffs. Jaune grabbed a gold rook piece for the two of them. Ruby grabbed a gold knight for her, and the heiress, Weiss, Pyrrha corrected herself as the group took off into the forest back in the direction of Beacon; if she was going to try and get close to this group, she figured she better start using the heiress’s name.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Unfortunately, the grimm followed them doggedly, and the group eventually found themselves trapped against a gorge with a badly decayed ruin poking out of it. The death stalker advanced from the forest while the nevermore perched on top of the ruins in the canyon, cutting off escape.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The group ran for the gorge anyway, which caused the nevermore to unleash another barrage of feathers at them. The green-clothed boy that had been with them shouted at his partner, Nora apparently, to distract it. Nora pulled a grenade launcher from her back and fired a barrage of her own, the airbursts of which temporarily drove off the nevermore. However, Nora was not paying attention to her rear. She would have been overrun by the death stalker if not for the timely intervention of the green-clothed boy and who, by process of elimination, could only be the blonde’s partner.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This distraction allowed everyone to advance to the edge of the bridge. The group began to cross but was stopped by the nevermore’s return, which smashed the bridge separating the group. Pyrrha was left on the land side with the green-clothed boy and blonde’s partner to fight the death stalker. Pyrrha heard explosions and the breaking of stone behind her but did not have time to look, so she was surprised when Nora sailed over her head and smashed her hammer into the death stalker’s face before launching herself back out of range with a blast from the same weapon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune gestured wildly at the grimm, “We have to move!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The four of them all charged the monster. Pyrrha deflects a claw swipe with Akoúo countering with Miló. the grimm reeled back, and Pyrrha prepared to meet the beasts answering strike only for Jaune to step in and block it for her, allowing Pyrrha to vault over him to attack its face. The green-clothed boy jumps in alongside her, firing at the joint at the base of the stinger, the result of which is the stinger smashing him aside and into a rock where he slumps over. Nora calls out what Pyrrha assumes is the boy’s name Pyrrha filed, Ren, away for later.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She snaps back when Jaune shouts her name and points at the grimm’s stinger, which is hanging loosely after Ren’s assault. Understanding what Jaune wants, Pyrrha gives him an affirmative and focusing on the joint as she readies Akoúo.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sorry big guy,” Pyrrha whispers, unleashing Akoúo to slice the stinger off. The stinger loges itself in the plate of the death stalker’s head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As she pulls Akoúo back to her with her semblance Jaune calls out another command, “Nora, nail it!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A shout of, “Heads up,” is all the warning Pyrrha gets before Nora flies over her head propelled by blasts from her hammer. Nora then falls, dropping her hammer on the back of the stinger, driving it into the grimm’s head and subsequently crushing the bridge underneath. Pyrrha has a split second to leap over the dying grimm and get to the edge of the gorge before everything she was just standing on falls into the misty abyss below.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>From their position of relative safety, the four watch as Weiss slingshot Ruby up the cliff face. Ruby then hooked her massive scythe around the nevermore’s throat dragging the grimm behind her and cleaving the giant bird’s head off as she crests the cliff.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A soft, “Wow,” escapes Jaune’s throat.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha can’t help but silently agree. Ruby would undoubtedly be someone to watch if not be careful of. Though with any luck Ruby would stay quietly on campus and be a non-issue for the rest of her plans.</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha sat with her group from the forest as Ozpin announced the teams. He had just finished inaugurating a team of frankly oafish looking boys. As they walked off the stage, Ozpin began another set of names, “Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR. Led by… Jaune Arc.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune went white, “Huh? L-Led by…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ozpin looked down at him, “Congratulations, young man.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha bumped her new leader’s shoulder to get him to respond only for it to knock him completely off balance and send him sprawling. Pyrrha leaned down to help Jaune up as Ozpin began announcing the next team.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Blake Belladonna…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha had to stop herself from snapping her head to the stage in shock. As she made it back to her seat, she scrutinized the black-haired girl. She had been too distracted in the forest to notice, but now that she looked, there was something familiar about her. She could just about imagine two cat ears under the large bow on her head. She was a perfect match for the girl that Taurus was trying to find. She hadn’t even bothered to change her name. She must have assumed Beacon to be beyond the White Fang’s reach, and in a sense, it was. Pyrrha could only let them know where Blake was. There was no way to get her without the risk of compromising Pyrrha, and Pyrrha did not trust Taurus not to do something stupid like attempting to kidnap her, so she would hold onto the info for now. However, it was still a useful piece of information should she need it later.</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha needed to be up late to call Torchwick, so as she lay in bed with earbuds in listening to music, she thought back over the day. She was a bit surprised not to be made the team leader. She would concede that he had demonstrated a firm grasp of tactics during the fight with the death stalker, but surely, the professors had seen her unlock his aura in the forest and knew he was not ready for such responsibility. Though she supposed it was odd that he was not even called in for questioning about it at the very least.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A thought crossed her mind. Could she be the reason he was being ignored? Maybe Ozpin did not want the scandal of having to fail her initiation on a technicality. It certainly would be bad publicity for him to turn away the Invincible Girl. Or it could only be that by ignoring it, he didn’t have to reveal that someone had managed to fake their way into Beacon as that would be equally bad publicity. Regardless it would be her responsibility to keep get him up to a reasonable level of competence so they could both fly under the radar.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The alarm rang through her earbuds, and she sat up to look around. It was midnight, and the rest of her team was sound asleep. Pyrrha slipped out of bed and crept to the rooftop balcony from which she swung herself up onto the roof and jumped down from the side of the building where there were no windows and made her way to the edge of campus while booting the scroll she had received from Watts. By the time she made it to the cliffs over the Emerald Forest where initiation had started, it was ready to go.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It only took a few swipes to find Roman’s contact. She pressed the call button.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Torchwick spoke first, “Look Red Hot, I’m busy tonight, so if we could keep this short, that would be great.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have told you not to call me that,” Pyrrha’s voice was calm and even. “I have given you a  code name or you to use. It would be in your best interest to stick to it. As for this call, the length is entirely up to you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fine, Fyre, ruin the one source of joy I can get working with you.” Pyrrha could hear the annoyance in Torchwick voice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But what about all the stealing I’m having you do.” Pyrrha maintained her even tone. She knew the lack of engagement would only serve to tick Torchwick off further, “I thought that was your pleasure. How is that going, by the way? I assume your big score tonight went well?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’d be stealing stuff whether I was working with you or not,” Torchwick grumbled, “Tonight went well. The boys and I just got back and are still putting everything away, but it looks like we got even more than we expected.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And the planning for the hit on the docks in a few months?” This was the single biggest score they had lined up, and Pyrrha was anxious for it to go off without a hitch.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Look, Fyre, we’re on track schedule-wise, but these animals are not the best at subtlety, so I have to work around that.” Torchwick was getting exasperated. Pyrrha needed to wrap this up so he could cool off.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So long as you get it done, I don’t care. Good night Torchwick.” Pyrrha closed the call without waiting for a response.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha lay back on the grass and stared up at the shattered moon. She really should go looking for the Fall Maiden again, but it was late, and she was exhausted from the day. Her bed sounded really nice right then, so she snuck back into the dorm set the alarm to wake her in the morning before collapsing into bed. She was out minutes later.</span>
</p><p>
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</p><p>
  <span>AN: Hello loyal readers. Wow! Two updates within a week of each other what is going on. I’m avoiding my finals by writing Fanfic that’s what, but enough on that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>We have a much longer chapter this week. I thought about cutting it after Pyrrha unlocks Jaune’s aura and that would have put it at about the word count of the first two chapters. However, I wanted to try a chapter closer to the average novel chapter length to see how you guys would react to it. Let me know what you think and I will try to tailor my future chapter lengths to popular demand.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If you are interested in contacting me I am on Twitter @Accipiter_Ater I am semi-active there and will respond to DMs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The last thing I want to do is shout out a friend of mine who has been helping me bounce around some of the ideas for this fic. They are </span>
  <span>Ravell Aqim if you like this story you should check out their work </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fallen Maiden.</span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Secrets</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Pyrrha was out late again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She had used a roof access door to check out the rest of the infirmary the previous night, to no avail. Now she was skulking through the halls of one of the campus’s other buildings in the hope she would discover some sort of hidden passage but was having very little luck. All the wires and piping in the wall were utterly uninteresting. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This was the third building she had made a pass on tonight. It was looking more and more like Ozpin did not have the maiden in any of the main buildings. Crossing this building off would leave just one more place where her target might be hidden.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beacon Tower.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Given that the tower represented the central hub for the CCT, it would be the school’s best-guarded location. On this level, it made sense why Ozpin would hide the maiden there. It would be nearly impossible for her to make a thorough search of the structure without attracting attention.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was startled from this train of thought by a noise. At first, it seemed to be an overly aggressive air-conditioner, but it was growing louder. Before she could think any further on the sound, she was thrown off her feet and tossed down the hallway.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“OhmygoshI’msosorry!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As Pyrrha recovered her senses, she saw Ruby standing over her, an innocently worried expression on her face. Anger twinged in Pyrrha’s mind; the girl seemed especially adept at getting in her way.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Errr, are you alright,” Ruby asked. Her concerned words seemed a marked contrast to her body language; the girl was cringing away from Pyrrha.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha realized that she had not put her false-self in charge in the chaos and was, in all likelihood, leveling quite the malevolent glare at Ruby. Pyrrha shook her head, both to clear it and at the same time place her false-self at the controls.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When she looked back at Ruby, her face was back to its public smile. “I’m alright, Ruby. You just startled me, that’s all.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha sprung back to her feet and held out her hand, “No hard feelings?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby took it hesitantly, “Yeah, we’re good?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sooo, ummm, what were you doing out here?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha’s false self gave a quiet laugh, “I like to walk a little before I go to bed. I just happened to come this way tonight.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha mentally poked her false-self, and she continued talking, “What about you, Ruby? What had you rushing around so late?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby blushed and turned away, looking guilty. “I was in the weapon shop working on Crescent Rose.” Ruby halfheartedly indicated the folded weapon stowed on her back. “I kinda fell asleep sitting at the workbench at some point. When I finally woke up, I saw it was super late, and so I started running back to my dorm, and then I hit you, and now I’m here.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The two girls stood across from each other for an awkward second before Ruby spoke up again. “We should be getting back to the dorms, right? I mean, curfew is soon, so…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha’s false self giggled, “There is no curfew Ruby. The school expects us to manage our own time like real huntresses.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby screwed up her face, “Ohhhh, I’m soooo gonna get Weiss for this. She told me that Beacon had a curfew at midnight, and we had to be in our rooms by then.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, now you know.” Pyrrha’s false self hid a smile behind a hand, “However you do have a point we probably should make our way back to our rooms for the night.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Internally Pyrrha sighed. It was probably time to give up on finding the Maiden conveniently stashed away in a hidden corner of the school anyway. Salem had always said Ozpin was arrogant to a fault, but he was not stupid enough to lay the maiden out somewhere anyone could find her.</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was her first weekend at Beacon, and Pyrrha had hoped to make it down to Vale to make sure everything was running smoothly under Cinder’s direction. However, Jaune had organized some sort of ice-breaker team meeting that Pyrrha apparently could not get out of. She had hoped the so far reserved Ren might protest. Unfortunately, his partner Nora seemed overjoyed by the idea, and Ren seemed to be content to indulge her, so Pyrrha remained trapped.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The four of them were all sitting in a circle at the foot of the two middle beds in their dorm. Pyrrha had her false self fully on guard, but even she was only just barely able to keep Pyrrha from scowling at the other three. The other two were just sitting there though Nora seemed nearly ready to shake herself apart in anticipation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So umm,” Jaune began. He put a hand on the back of his neck, rubbing as he looked around, “I guess we’re a team, and, umm, I’m the leader. I called you here so we could maybe learn a bit about each other. I mean, we are going to spend the next four years together, so I thought it might be nice.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha nearly grimaced, but False Pyrrha caught it in time, four years? Unless all her plans went horrendously wrong, that was extremely unlikely.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune continued, “I was thinking we could just share some things about ourselves. I don’t really have any sort of script so you can share whatever you want. If you want, I can go first so you can maybe get an idea?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>,</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s hear it, Jaune!” Nora shouted, followed by a vigorous nod. Pyrrha and Ren both shrugged.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune cleared his throat. “So, I’m Jaune Arc, though I guess you already knew that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nora appeared ready to butt in; however, Pyrrha noticed a slight shake of Ren’s head, and Nora deflated slightly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune continued, “My family is from a small town right outside Vale. I’m the youngest of eight kids and the only boy.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha saw Ren shake his head again, but it seemed Nora was no longer able to contain herself, “What was that like? Having sisters, I mean. Ren and I are only children, so I’m totally curious!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune smiled a bit, “Well, you can have one or two of mine if you want. Though I’m not sure, I would recommend it. They are a bit overbearing. At times, it was like I had eight mothers, and at others, they would treat me like a dress-up doll. It was infuriating; all the men in my family were warriors, my grandfather fought in the Great War, and my dad’s a huntsman, or I guess, was, he retired after their fourth kid to help my mom with all of us. Anyway, they were all super strong and heroic, and I was stuck at home while my sisters ganged up to force me into pigtails.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune went pink and stopped talking but eventually, he managed to squeak out, “You won’t tell anyone that, will you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The rest of the team solemnly shook their heads. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha joined in absentmindedly. She was at a loss. How could Jaune share something like that? It was just begging to be used against him. She supposed he could have made a mistake, but that begged a new question. How could someone with such a lack of a filter have survived to fake their way into Beacon?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her train of thought was snapped when Jaune continued. “Thanks, guys. Anyway, it wasn’t that bad. I mean, I still was able to make it here so, I guess I did something right.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He spoke with enthusiasm, but Pyrrha detected a hint of hesitance in his voice. Her false self smiled politely and nodded, covering Pyrrha’s impulse to narrow her eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune looked around at the other three, “So, umm, who wants to go next?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll go!” Nora was bouncing in place, “Let me go!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nora’s made her voice deeper like she was telling an epic tale, “Ren and I first met in the forests of Anima where we…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nora suddenly stopped when Ren tapped her shoulder, “Nora, why don’t we let Pyrrha go next. That way, we can end the night with your story.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ren gave an apologetic glance to Pyrrha, though whether he thought he was apologizing for putting her on the spot or for Nora’s outburst, she could not tell.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha sighed, she would have been perfectly content to let Nora take up the rest of the evening and not have to go at all, but if this is what she had to do to get it done with, then she would play along. It wasn’t like the sanitized version of her life would take long to tell.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her false self knew the story well, so Pyrrha set her to her task, “I grew up in Argus. My parents had both trained as huntsmen, and so I followed in their footsteps. In my first few days at combat school, a talent scout picked me out to try out for a tournament team. I did well and was selected for the team. I left normal schooling behind for a world of private trainers and competitions. I worked hard, and over the last three years, I have created a streak of wins that made me famous.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The other three were staring at her almost blankly. Jaune was the first one to speak, “Is there anything else about you that you want to share? I mean, it kinda felt like you were reading an article about you or something.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha was a bit stumped. What did he want from her that was the account of her public life. Did Jaune want her to embarrass herself as he did?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She would just let her false self solve the problem. That usually worked during interviews. “Sorry, I’m not good at this sort of thing. I didn’t have siblings like you, and my tournament schedule left me sort of isolated.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And, that backfired. Pyrrha clamped back down on her false self, allowing her to blush and quietly draw into herself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nora cocked her head, “I thought you said you were part of a tournament team didn’t you have your teammates?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She almost didn’t answer, but in the end, she decided she did not really have a choice, so she allowed her false self out to answer Nora’s question.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her false self gave a little laugh, “Was really only a team in name only, The Mistral Regional is an individual event so, in reality, we were just a group of competitors all managed by one company. I was the star of the company, so the rest of my so-called teammates either were more interested in beating me if they were in the same age group, or they idolized me from afar if they were younger. So I didn’t really have friends. Sorry, that got a little somber.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha looked back to Nora, “You were saying how you met Ren?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nora immediately jumped back into her tail, “There I was in the forests of Anima, I was being tracked by seven beowolves they were just about to catch me when out of nowhere a figure appeared. It was Ren! And he stabbed all the grimm to death, saving me from certain death.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ren stopped his partner, “That’s not how it happened, and you know it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nora pouted, “But Rennn, it’s so much cooler that way.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, it is, but it’s nowhere near the truth. I think we owe our new teammates the truth, don’t you.” Ren stared Nora down for a few seconds before she deflated.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fine,” There was an element of defeat to Nora’s voice, “I was hungry, and Ren gave me a roll. There, happy?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>What followed was an extremely depressing story of loss and hardship as Nora told the story of how the duo ended up at Beacon. Pyrrha was pretty sure Ren continued to interrupt when Nora got out of control, but she barely listened. Instead, she was sorting through what her false self had spouted to the group.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That was just the way things were, right? People fought to become the best; someone always had to be at the top. In Pyrrha’s experience, it was usually her, or well, Salem, but how did one top the immortal queen of the grimm? Pyrrha was the best; she didn’t need friends, so why had her false self made her tournament life sound so sad. If she hadn’t made a name for herself on the tournament circuit, Salem would never have recruited her, and that would mean that she would be excluded from the chance to help save the world from itself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It would be easy to chock it all up to her false self putting on a front to keep her cover, but if that was the case, why did what her false self said bother her so much?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As Nora concluded a story about creeps and pancakes that had the whole group laughing, including her false self whom Pyrrha had left at the wheel while she was thinking, something rose unbidden from the direction of her false self.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Was this what it was like?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Having friends…</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Next Wednesday found Pyrrha sitting through another combat class Jaune was on the stage losing yet another fight. There was nothing unusual about that in of itself, but it was starting to get on Pyrrha’s nerves. He was trying to do it on his own, and he just was not improving. She had tried on several occasions to try and get him to train with her, but he rebuffed her every time. At the end of her rope, Pyrrha decided to confront him directly that evening.’</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha was waiting outside Professor Obleck’s class for Jaune to get his punishment after causing a scene in class. She had sent Nora and Ren along with Team Ruby ahead while she waited for Jaune.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was the first to emerge from the classroom after the professor zipped past her, but Cardin followed closely behind, shoving him aside and directly into her. She managed to catch Jaune, sparing him from falling to the floor.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune, however, jumped back from her with a cute blush tinting his cheeks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Where had that come from? Pyrrha mentally smacked her false self. Jaune was a problem she had to solve, not some cute boy to fawn over. Damnit, she did it again. She gave herself a light shake to refocus herself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know,” Pyrrha began, “All you’d have to do is give the word, and Nora and I would go break his legs.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune rolled his eyes, “I’ve told you before, he’s really not that bad. I can handle him, and it’s not just me. He’s like this to everyone. So, umm, should we head to dinner?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha shook her head, “Not yet. I wanted to talk with you about something. Follow me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha grabbed Jaune’s hand and led him up to the roof, where it was private.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune looked around and then over the edge, “Pyrrha, I know I'm going through a hard time right now, but I'm not </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> depressed. I can always be a farmer or something.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Really jokes, Jaune?” Pyrrha looked at him unimpressed, “ Look, that’s not the point. This is serious, Jaune. You need to work on your skills, and I thought we could work up here where we won’t be disturbed.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You think I need help?” Jaune sounded hurt as if she had offended him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Quite frankly, yes I do,” Pyrrha figured being blunt was probably the best approach here, though, inside her head, her false self was screaming at her to walk it back. Pyrrha ignored her other self’s cries.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She pressed onward, “If you’re going to make a place for yourself here at Beacon, you will need to step up your game. You are the leader of Team JNPR; there is a certain level of skill that you should have if you are going to hold that position.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune rounded on her, “Is that what this is about, your precious reputation?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was shouting now. “The great Pyrrha Nikos is embarrassed to have such a weak partner.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>On some level, that was true, Pyrrha thought. She could not have scrutiny on her team, and Jaune’s lack of skill drew attention. That is not what she said, though.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shutting out her false self entirely, Pyrrha fired right back, both eyes flashing dangerously, “You know damn well that’s not it. I came here to get away from my reputation. This is about you and your future here.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>However much longer that lasts, </span>
  </em>
  <span>the darkest part of her mind added.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But that’s just it,” Jaune was quieter now, “I don’t have a future here. I don’t even belong here.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>While probably true from an official point of view, the fact remained that he was here for some reason.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course you belong here,” Pyrrha responded, “You submitted a document to the school, and they let you in as a student. It’s that simple.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune looked down at his feet, “I didn’t, though, submit an application, that is. I got my hands on some fake transcripts, and I lied.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know.” Jaune’s eyes snapped up to Pyrrha’s. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I - what - but how?” He seemed genuinely confused</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She continued, “I’d have to be entirely stupid not to know. Jaune. I had to unlock your aura in the forest during initiation. Did you see anyone else who had to do that before we were all thrown into the forest? Every single other person here already had their aura unlocked. Either their combat schools did it, or if they are like Ren and Nora, they had it activated in a moment of extreme stress. The fact that yours was locked was a dead giveaway.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So all this time,” Jaune was quiet, “You knew and said nothing? Why? You could have had a better partner.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t say anything because there was no point.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune was about to speak, but Pyrrha continued blocking him out, “The professors were watching the initiation, Jaune. How else do you think they planned to enforce their rule about partnering with the first person you made eye contact with? Let alone pick leaders.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha held up a finger to stop Jaune from talking again, “Let me finish. Remember how when I unlocked your aura, it was super bright?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“There is no way the professors missed it when watching. They are not stupid,”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That was debatable, but that wasn’t the point she was trying to make here.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Yet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha continued, “They would have known what it meant just as well as I did, so they are letting you stay here for some reason. I just don’t know why. So if we could just work together on your forms to get you up to speed with the rest of the class, I’d really appreciate it. But if you won’t do it for me, at least do it to save face for yourself.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune nodded at her, “So your not angry?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Confused, Yes” Pyrrha let the ghost of a smile come to her lips, “But angry? No.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So should we…” Jaune indicated the door for the roof</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha nodded. She grabbed onto Jaune’s hand and pulled him to the door, “By the way, I saved your life by spearing your hoodie during initiation. So if you wanted to thank me…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune rolled his eyes and almost laughed, “Thanks for not letting me splatter all over the ground in the forest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha dropped Jaune’s hand as they entered the main hallways of Beacon. They had to sprint to make it to the cafeteria before it closed for dinner. Ren and Nora were still there when they arrived. It seemed Ren had elected to wait for them, but Nora was plowing through what was, if the dishes in front of her were anything to go by, her third ice cream sundae.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nora looked up at their arrival, “So did you get it all out of your system?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She waggled her eyebrows at them suggestively.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha had pulled her false self out on the way down, so she just blushed and looked away in response.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune, ever oblivious, responded, “I think we got everything worked out.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nora aimed a wicked smile at Pyrrha, “So how was… hssss! Fine!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nora turned on Ren, a pout pinching her face. He shook his head. Nora turned back to her ice cream, attacking it with renewed vigor.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That night as Pyrrha lay in bed, she thought back to the roof.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>What had come over her? Towards the end, she had started acting like a schoolgirl with a crush. She was better than this. She had important work to do. Boys were nothing to her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So why did her heart flutter when she thought about gripping Jaune’s hand as she led him off the roof.</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha paced on the roof; she and Jaune had agreed to meet there after dinner to train as they had agreed every day since their discussion on the roof a week ago. However, Jaune had yet to show up once. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Problems </span>
  </em>
  <span>apparently kept coming up, and he had to bail. She checked the time on her scroll. He was fifteen minutes late, so she decided to head back to the dorm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha stormed into the dorm slamming the door behind her, causing Nora to jump and Ren to snap his eyes up to look at her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you alright, Pyrrha?” Nora seemed genuinely concerned.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry. I did not mean to startle you.” Pyrrha allowed her false self to look apologetic. “Do either of you know where Jaune is? He has missed all of our appointments for the last week.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jealous?” Nora’s grin was downright feral.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha’s cheeks heated as her false self blushed. “No, just concerned,” Pyrrha hated the slight waver her voice, her false self added, “So have you seen him?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ren spoke up from his bed, “He got a message on his scroll and left in a hurry. It could be something with Cardin; the two of them have been spending a lot of time together over the past week.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That didn’t bode well. Cardin was a snake; she could not fathom why Jaune suddenly had an attachment to the boy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As she tried to come up with a plan to figure out what was going on with Jaune, Pyrrha grabbed her pajamas and went to the restroom to change. Once she had changed and stowed her gear, Pyrrha flopped down on her bed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>What could she do? The direct approach was always an option. It wouldn’t be exactly difficult to convince Nora to help her go after Team CRDL; however, depending on why Jaune was suddenly in Cardin’s crowd, it could just make things worse. She needed a way to find out what was actually going on. If she could get into Jaune’s scroll, that would solve most of her problems. It wasn’t outside her wheelhouse, Watts had given, or more accurately been forced to deliver, a suite of tools to her or use on her mission. All she would need was a few minutes with his scroll, and given his propensity to leave it in their dorm, that wouldn’t be any trouble.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Climbing under the covers, Pyrrha put her earbuds in and turned up her music to keep her up until Jaune came back. Well, past midnight, the door to their room creaked open, and Jaune slinked in. Carefully Pyrrha pulled out one of her earbuds so she could hear Jaune. Eventually, he got into bed, and his breathing slowed. Once she was sure he was asleep, she stood up and looked at the space between their beds.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sure enough, Jaune’s scroll was sitting there loose on the floor. Quietly she reached down and swiped the device and her black scroll from its hiding place in one of her tournament bags under her bed. Pyrrha then crept to the bathroom, where she opened her black scroll and quickly flipped through the apps before finding the one she wanted. The rest was simple. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>All she had to do was set Jaune’s scroll on top of hers, and the app would do the rest. About ninety seconds later, a green emblem appeared in the lower right corner of her scrolls screen. A prompt came up to name the profile, thinking for a second Pyrrha entered Daylight and tapped enter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When she opened the profile, she was greeted with a display of Jaune’s home screen. She quickly found his messaging app. When she saw that Cardin had mostly left Jaune voice messages, she frowned but put her scroll away and left the bathroom. She’d go over the messages on the phone during her free period tomorrow. Walking back to bed, she placed Jaune’s scroll on his bedside table and crawled back under her covers.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha an alarm on her scroll and turned down her music, and drifted off to sleep.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha reserved a private study room in the library for her free period the next day. She shut the blinds and sat facing the door. Once she was comfortable, Pyrrha pulled out her black scroll and flipped to the relevant app.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t hard to discern from the messages that Cardin was holding something over Jaune as Cardin kept referencing a secret whenever he asked Jaune to do something. Now there was only one secret she knew Jaune had that would scare him into following Cardin, but she had thought she had curbed Jaune’s doubts about it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Unless?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No, Jaune wasn’t that gullible. Who was she kidding? Of course, he was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Though, to be fair, even if she thought that the faculty knew her secret and were keeping her close for some unknown reason, she wouldn’t exactly be eager to test that theory either.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This again left her with a dilemma.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Did she either by herself or with Nora go and beat down Cardin in the hopes that would make him back off, or did she just monitor the problem and hope it solved itself? Both options bore risks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>In the first case, she rolled the dice potentially twice once as to whether Cardin would actually back off or would he just turn around and immediately go to the faculty. If he went to a Professor Goodwitch, she then rolled the dice again, hoping that her theory was correct and that the teachers would do nothing to Jaune.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>On the other hand, she could just roll the dice once and hope that somehow everything just worked out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ultimately, she decided that the risks around assaulting Team CRDL far enough outweighed the potential benefits of directly influencing the events so she set her black scroll to continue to log anything from Cardin but ignore the rest of the scroll’s data. She then packed away her black scroll and set about reading the textbook for their class on dust. She hoped she would pick up something useful for the one area of combat that she never excelled in. Though her motivation was quite low, after all, who needed dust when she could do real magic?</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>It had been several days since Pyrrha had gotten into Jaune’s scroll, and in that time, not a whole lot had changed. Jaune still spent much of his free time with Cardin and his team, along with forging homework for Cardin.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So far, it seemed that Cardin seemed content to make Jaune act as his servant. However, Pyrrha doubted it would last, so she continued to listen to each day’s messages before she went to sleep.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha got her confirmation that Cardin was stepping up his game the night before the field trip to the Forest of Forever Fall. In his last message to Jaune, Cardin asked him to pick up a crate of rapier wasps. It didn’t take any sort of genius to understand that Cardin was looking to attack someone the following day. She, like everyone else, had written the paper on common local, non-grimm threats to be aware of when on a mission, one of which happened to be said wasps. The sweet tree sap would make an excellent lure for the insects. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The only question left was who Cardin’s target was. Her first thought was herself. It wasn’t even a matter of vanity on her part. Pyrrha had spent the last several weeks antagonizing Cardin whenever possible. This mostly took the form of embarrassing him in classes by correcting him constantly, all the while playing the role of the oblivious know-it-all. Her hope had been to goad Cardin into an outburst and get him detention so she could finally talk with Jaune. However, she had not believed the boy capable of such an indirect approach. Apparently, he did have something resembling a brain rattling around in his skull.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The only secondary target Pyrrha could think of would be some unlucky faunus that Cardin had decided to go after. However, the only faunus who would be in the forest with them was Blake, and Pyrrha was confident she was the only one who had recognized her. So that left only herself as a likely target.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As she was getting ready for bed, Pyrrha ticked her usual alarm back an hour. She would need to pick up a few things at the campus store tomorrow before they left.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha was the first one up the next morning. She dressed quietly in her combat gear and crept out of the dorm and down to the cafeteria for a light breakfast and then onto the store. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She arrived just as it opened and swiftly walked to the survival section, where she picked up two cans of extra strength bug spray and one of those hair-ties infused with bug repellant. Pyrrha purchased her items and left the store. As she left, she slipped the two cans into pouches on her waist hidden under her sash. Pyrrha then turned a corner and slipped into a private alcove where she untied the thin ribbon that held her hair in its characteristic ponytail. She retied her hair with the bug-repelling tie and then tied the ribbon back around the knot to hide the bug band. Pyrrha stopped by a nearby restroom to check that the band was hidden. Satisfied, Pyrrha washed her hands to remove the oily residue left by the product and strolled to the locker room to retrieve her weapons so she could run through at least part of her morning routine before it was time to board the airship to the forest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The ride had not been particularly unpleasant. Seats for the ride had been assigned by team, so Jaune was sitting with Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora. However, there were virtually no opportunities for conversation as Jaune spent the whole flight with his head in his lap, groaning periodically.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha almost wrenched control back from her false self when she started to rub Jaune’s back, apparently attempting to soothe him. She changed her mind at the last minute, deeming the action harmless enough. Nobody would see anything off about her helping her supposed partner through his airsickness for all the good it did through his armor.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As they exited the airship Team CRDL dumped all their supplies on Jaune, including a strange box precariously taped shut labeled with a large W. After Professor Goodwitch explained their goal once again and released them into the forest, Ren and Nora headed off after Team RWBY and Jaune made to follow them. However, before he could do so, Cardin clapped Jaune on the shoulder and led him off in another direction. Pyrrha chose to follow Ren and Nora despite the part of her insisting she break-off and follow Cardin’s gang. It would be better if Cardin was caught red-handed her butting in would solve nothing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It did not take long for everyone to fill their jars, or at least it shouldn’t have. However, Nora consistently drank the sap from any unattended jars, so it took several tries for everyone to manage to keep a filled jar. Eventually, their work finished and left the seven of them standing around with nothing else to do. The chatter that broke out between the two teams was uninspiring, and Pyrrha paid it very little heed. She was instead constantly looking around so she could prepare for the inevitable ambush.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby eventually picked up on Pyrrha’s wariness and turned to speak to her, “Is everything alright?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha sighed, “Yes.” Her voice wavered, and she went into damage control, “Probably. - I don’t know. I guess I’m just worried about what Jaune might be getting up to with Cardin’s team.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She wasn’t exactly certain why she was fumbling her thoughts; it shouldn’t have been so hard to simply lie and say she was fine.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Yang spoke up, “I’m sure they will be fine. It’s just the way guys are, right? They’re at each other’s throats one day and then buddies the next.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Everyone turned to look at Ren, who just shrugged in response.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dad and Uncle Qrow are like that.” Ruby turned to her sister, “Remember that time after my birthday a few years back when I was still designing Cresent Rose?’</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Never one to miss an opportunity to brag said weapon was suddenly in Ruby’s hand as she waved it around.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh yeah!” Yang was bouncing with barely contained mirth, “You were what ten, and Qrow got you parts to start making blades, and dad went ballistic on him. They destroyed the shed in that fight, but by the end of it, they were rolling on the lawn laughing.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby nodded enthusiastically, “I’m sure everything is fine, Pyrrha.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And then a roar split the forest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You just had to say something, didn’t you, sis.” Yang grinned, “Well, I suppose we better go see what that was.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The seven of them left their jars on the ground and sprinted off in the direction of the roar. On their way, they met Team CRDL minus their leader shouting about a huge ursa attacking Cardin. They didn’t mention Jaune, and Pyrrha’s pulse quickened; images of what that might mean rose unbidden in her mind.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby turned to her team, “Yang and Blake, go get Professor Goodwitch.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha rounded on Ren and Nora, “You two go with them. There could be more circling the area.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Those four sprinted off into the forest as Pyrrha, Ruby, and Weiss continued their charge. The trio broke the treeline into a clearing before them was the ursa baring down on downed Cardin while Jaune danced around on the sides. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The grimm made a heavy sweeping strike at Cardin, but Jaune dashed in to intercept it, grunting under the weight on his shield.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Next to Pyrrha, Weiss drew her blade and got into a combat stance; before she could go any further, Pyrrha thrust out her arm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hold.” Pyrrha was nearly whispering, and she wasn’t sure Weiss had heard, but eventually, Weiss relaxed out of her form.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha narrowed her eyes, watching Jaune carefully. She was curious to see how he would fare alone. He had managed to throw off the ursa’s paw and slashed its belly. Jaune then jumped over the first retaliatory strike but missed the follow-up and was batted across the clearing. No sooner had he picked himself back up than Jaune was charging the ursa again, this time leaping into the air as he struck. He never made contact. Instead, the beast deflected him up and over its back leaving Jaune in a pile behind it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune stood back up, shaking slightly. Pyrrha watched him glance at the inside of his shield, where she knew he had his scroll. The grimace on his face told her that the display did not hold good news. Pyrrha’s hand twitched towards her own weapons; if Jaune was smart, he would back off and leave it up to the three spectators to stop the grimm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha watched as Jaune grit his teeth and raised his sword. Surely he wouldn’t- and he was. Jaune gave a battle cry and charged the ursa once more. Pyrrha’s eyes flicked between Jaune and the beast. The grimm’s right claw rose, and Pyrrha noticed that Jaune had left his shield down. Her first instinct was to reach for Miló, but then another idea struck her. Thinking quickly, Pyrrha called on her semblance. Her left hand took on a subtle black glow, as did Jaune’s shield. One quick pull later, and Jaune’s shield moved up and into the way of the incoming blow, and in the opening created by the block, Jaune swung high and cleaved the head from the ursa in a single strike.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As Pyrrha released the hold on Jaune’s shield, she noticed Ruby and Weiss were both staring at her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uhhh… What?” came Ruby’s barely coherent question.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Weiss was a little better though still by no means did she offer a complete thought, “How did you…?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha looked down at the other two girls, “Well, Ruby has her speed; you have your glyphs. That was my semblance.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby perked up, “Oh, cool! So what is it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>For a second, Pyrrha thought about continuing to keep her semblance a secret but decided it would not do any harm and moreover would fit with her supposed purpose to be escaping her tournament life to let it slip.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My semblance is polarity.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby’s eyes widened, “Woha, you can control poles…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha watch Weiss roll her eyes, “No, you dunce! It means she has control over magnetism.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby still seemed impressed, whispering to herself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Weiss started to walk into the clearing, but Pyrrha placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her, instead indicating the direction they came from.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Weiss cocked her head slightly, “Why?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby pitched in, “Yeah, we need to go tell them what happened!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha shook her head, “Or we could keep it our little secret.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She gave Ruby and Weiss a sweet smile and started backing away from the clearing as she turned away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When she had made the choice to get involved, she had never intended to tell Jaune. She watched the two boys in the clearing; Jaune was pulling Cardin to his feet. Hopefully, this would solve the problems between the two of them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And finally, get her the time with Jaune she wanted, the repressed part of her mind whispered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha beat that part down. She just needed to train with him. She had no interest in him beyond that.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>AN:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hello dear readers I am back! I always think I’m going to get more work done over winter break than I actually do and so this chapter is quite a bit later than I intended.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Anyway, I rewrote this thing three times to get it to where I felt it covered everything I needed it to to the right degree. There is one more scene that I wanted to fit in but given that what is there is well over 6k words I decided to shunt that off to the next chapter. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The plus side of this is that you actually are going to get an extra chapter. I was supposed to close out V1 in the next chapter. However, now that I decided that I needed this extra scene that doesn’t really fit with wrapping everything up I have decided an extra chapter is warranted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Unfortunately, this decision also has a negative. I am in my final semester of college and as a result, I have an undergraduate research paper that I will be working on plus papers for my other classes spaced throughout the semester. This will likely burn me out on writing until at least May. My hope was to get the final chapter for V1 out soon after this one before schoolwork picks up in the next week. However, now that I have two more chapters planned the outlook for that does not appear too good.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So, to sum things up. This story may be going on hiatus for the next four-ish months. I will do everything in my power to finish V1 before I have to start the hiatus, but that may not happen.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hopefully, I’ll see you soon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Accipiter_Ater</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As always I’m on Twitter @Accipiter_Ater if you want to get in touch with me.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You can also find me on other social media sites under the same name (Discord, Reddit, YouTube) if you are uncomfortable with Twitter for some reason.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Training Day (Finaly)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Pyrrha was pacing the roof again. She had wanted to drag Jaune up there the night they returned from the forest to talk. However, Professor Goodwitch had taken Jaune in for a long debrief first. When Jaune returned, he flopped into his bed, claiming exhaustion. He was asleep not long after, neglecting even to remove his clothes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She considered herself an immensely patient person, but somehow the nature of the event had worn it away quicker than usual. She could not figure out what it was that was causing this cracking of her carefully composed self. She knew Jaune would be there this time. The events in the forest had managed to get the snake off his back, so there was nothing to keep him from her, and yet, a small part of her still doubted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She checked her scroll and let out an angry grunt. Barely a minute had passed since she last looked. Moreover, it was still early. He was not even late yet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The door handle jiggled, and Pyrrha shoved her scroll back into its pocket. She then composed herself. She took a casual stance facing out over the campus, her back to the door.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ummm, Pyrrha?” Jaune had a note of caution in his voice. Pyrrha figured it was warranted. After all, he had stood her up a great many times over the past several weeks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha didn’t bother turning around to speak, “You finally made it!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her remark, though sarcastic, was well masked behind her false self’s usual sweetness. She continued as she turned around, “And you’re on time, I’m so glad!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha then reached out with her semblance and grabbed Akoúo̱, which she had left leaning against the wall by the door. She yanks the shield towards her with Jaune in between them. Jaune gave no sign that he noticed the attack until the shield’s domed side connected with the back of his head. The blow knocked him forward, but he managed to catch himself on all fours.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He got halfway up before he sat back on his knees and looked up at Pyrrha. There was a slight whine to his voice as he spoke, a hand rubbing the back of his head, “Owww! What the heck was that for Pyrrha?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha was grinning down at him as she casually adjuted Akoúo̱ on her bracer. The sweetness still marred her words, “What do you mean, Jaune? We are up here to train, so I attacked you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But, I wasn’t ready!” Jaune complained.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha changed her tone, switching to one much more serious for her next words, “So what? Did the ursa yesterday wait for you to be ready? What about the death stalker during initiation? We are here to train to fight grimm. They are vicious monsters, and they do not play fair. Yesterday, you got lucky. You did everything right, and it paid off. That will not always be the case. There may come a time where no matter how perfect you are, it will not be enough. There is always something stronger out there.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune frowned, and frustration crept into his voice, “So your </span>
  <em>
    <span>training </span>
  </em>
  <span>is just going to be you beating up on me? I could have just stuck with Cardin for that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha tapped into her false self, finally recognizing its screams for her to back down. Her features softened, and she spoke gently, “No. That was a one-time thing. I’m sorry, but I had to make sure you got that lesson.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha set her weapons aside and gestured to Jaune’s hip, “Draw your weapon. I want to start with your stance.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune did so, and Pyrrha had to suppress a sigh. He was far too loose, his shield was too low, and his feet were much too close together. At least he had the correct leg forward, his left under his shield. Pyrrha walked over to Jaune and began speaking as she manipulated his body. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Your power comes from your legs.” Jaune cocked his head at her, “I know it seems weird your weapons are in your arms after all, but that is the case.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She began tapping the back of his left foot, “You need to spread your legs further apart. It will make you more stable.” The foot shifted forward. “Good, now get lower.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha placed her hands on his hips and pushed down, trying to get him to settle into his stance. Her false self crowed at the physical contact. Jaune, however, jumped away like he had been stung, weapons clattered to the roof, his face red as he stumbled away, not quite looking at her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What was that, Pyrrha!” Jaune’s voice cracked slightly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I could ask you the same thing,” It was tough to keep her voice free of exasperation, “All I was doing was helping you settle into your stance. Would you prefer I just shout at you until you get it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune deflated a bit, “I suppose not. I just wasn’t expecting you to get so close.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, but this is the best way I know to help.” Pyrrha was slipping further into her false self mask, “Come on, pick up your weapons and let’s try this again.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune did as she asked and attempted to replicate the partial stance he was in before he ran. Pyrrha had to tap his leg back forward, but when she went to settle him, he only flinched and looked away as she pushed him down.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright, now that we have come back to where we started, we can move on.” Pyrrha traced her hands up to his left shoulder. Jaune flinched again as her false self made a little bit more contact than strictly necessary.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha grasped his arm and both lifted the shield up and pulled it in closer, “If you hold your shield here, it will both protect you better and give you more room to move since your legs are clear.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha moved to his sword arm. “You’re actually not bad here.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune brightened at the praise.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“There are quite a few ways you can position a sword behind a shield. You can hold it like you are now,” Pyrrha gestured to the simple vertical position of his sword. “It’s not as dynamic as some like, but it is a good position to set up for simple chops around your shield.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune turned his head slightly towards her, clearly attempting to both hold the form and look at her. Curiosity filled his voice as he asked, “Is there a better way?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha shrugged, “Better is a bit relative. What you have now is a good generalist stance. It gives you a strong attack option with an overhand chop while also maintaining a strong defense as you don’t have to move your shield much to strike. By changing the way you hold your sword in your resting stance, you change what moves you are set up for.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha walked over to her weapons and copied the stance she had put Jaune in except facing the opposite direction so he could see her sword arm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If I hold my blade like this,” Pyrrha changed Miló’s position, so it had its point forward, “I set my self up for quick stabs. This is more of a defensive position ad relies on the use of the shield to create openings.” Pyrrha mimed a shield bash and trust combo.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“On the other hand, if I hold it like this,” Pyrrha changed her position, so she was holding Miló up and slightly behind her head, “Then I am set up for a strong crossbody cut.” Pyrrha mimed this attack as well.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“However, as you can see,” Pyrrha did the same motion again but slower and stopping part of the way through with her blade in front of her and her shield off to the side, “To make this attack, you have to move your shield out of the way. I’m not the biggest fan of this form as it is extremely obvious and makes my defense too stiff.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha stood up out of her stance and placed her weapons on her back. Jaune moved to do the same, but Pyrrha raised her hand to stop him, “I know it is uncomfortable, but you need to learn to hold that stance.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune sagged but managed to return to the stance without the need for correction. Pyrrha smiled and praised him, “Great job Jaune! If I were one of my own trainers, I’d have you hold that until bedtime.” Jaune’s eyes widened before Pyrrha continued, “However, we don’t have the time to spend days on your stance, so instead, we will try moving on. Pick one of those sword positions I talked about and try a strike.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune picked the vertical one he had naturally chosen to start with. He then swung his arm out and down. His shield slipped to the side, and he moved nothing but his arm. Pyrrha subtly clenched her teeth to calm herself before she corrected Jaune.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay, that was a good job maintaining your stance, but you are supposed to move when you strike.” Pyrrha demonstrated the move with the full step and follow-through.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune looked a bit embarrassed and mumbled out an apology.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha’s false self was quick to dish out her own apology, “Oh don’t say that, Jaune. It’s not really your fault. I got a little too far ahead and didn’t explain things quite right. Why don’t you try again?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He did; the movement was a little clumsy, but he stepped forward with his right foot chopped down with his sword, and all while he kept his shield firmly in place between himself and his imaginary opponent.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wow! That was really good, Jaune.” Pyrrha wasn’t even patronizing him. He had really done well. The real test would come in the next few days as she figured out how much he would retain.</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>As it would turn out, Jaune was like a sponge. He picked up the material extremely quickly, and while his execution was awkward, Pyrrha could see a marked improvement. Jaune still placed last in the class as far as sparing went. However, Professor Goodwitch was becoming less and less critical of him. He even received a few scarce compliments from the professor for his direction during team combat, as opposed to the critiques of his personal skill he usually received. It seemed the operation had been successful Pyrrha had gotten Jaune to a point where he could fly under the radar, and yet, she couldn’t bring herself to stop their lessons.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She told herself it was because she got to relax during them and not have to think about everything Salem required of her in the next several months. However, there was always the voice of her false self in her head telling her that she just liked spending time with Jaune. Whenever that little thought came up, Pyrrha beat it out of her head with a mental stick. Boys were of no use to her right now, and Jaune certainly didn’t interest her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Regardless of the reason, the weekend of the big SDC shipment managed to sneak up on her. In preparation for her night out, Pyrrha was recording a video for Jaune to watch and follow along with when a commotion out in the hall ruined her take. Cursing, she deleted the video and poked her head out into the hall in time to catch a blur of black hair rush around the corner towards the building’s exit.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby came to her team’s door and called down the hall, “Blake, wait! Come back!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha cocked her head at Ruby, a silent question in her eyes, but Ruby just shut the door to her team’s dorm. Pyrrha could hear a muffled conversation going on behind the door. Pyrrha didn’t need to be a genius to piece together what had happened.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blake had been found out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mentally, Pyrrha crossed that potential blackmail off the list in her mind as she hummed to herself. With any luck, this issue with Blake would keep Ruby too busy to accidentally find herself in Pyrrha’s way again. Who knew, maybe Blake would even find her way back to Taurus that would make the man happy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pyrrha set her scroll back into its stand and began a new take for the video she was making Jaune. Tomorrow would be a good day; she would finally be able to completely lock away her false self and rid herself of the awful mask that came with it, even if it was only for a few hours.</span>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <span>AN: Hello all! This is the penultimate episode for the events of V1. I know this is short compared to the last two chapters but this chapter only exists because I did not want to push the previous chapter to 8k+ words so the training scene got its own chapter. This also serves as a nice bridge to the last episode of V1. The finale is already written so it will be posted within the next few days with a much more extensive note to you. Stay tuned for more Dark Pyrrha.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As always I’m on Twitter @Accipiter_Ater if you want to get in touch with me.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You can also find me on other social media sites under the same name (Discord, Reddit) if you are uncomfortable with Twitter for some reason.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. A Night on the Town</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next day after lunch Pyrrha slipped off into Vale after reminding Jaune to practice while she was busy. She took a taxi from the Beacon shuttle's landing point to a hotel that was especially popular with influential Mistrali visitors.</p>
<p>She walked with a purpose towards the hallway of conference rooms on the ground floor. Nobody stopped her; she was well known, and if she looked like she had business somewhere, who were they to question her? This was one of the only benefits of her reputation Pyrrha was allowed to enjoy, and so she relished it while it lasted.</p>
<p>Mistrali business being what it often was, there were no cameras once she made it to the hallway. Pyrrha found a restroom halfway down the hall. She slipped into a stall and opened the overnight bag she had brought with her, and began to strip out of her distinctive armor before pulling on a black pencil skirt and a thin forest blouse. Pyrrha stuck a mirror to the tile wall behind the toilet and began pinning her hair up and carefully tucking it into a short black wig. She poked and prodded until her crimson locks were invisible. She then took out a makeup kit. Pyrrha darkened the areas around her eyes and applied a thin layer of bright red lipstick. When she was done, the face of an overworked secretary blinked back at her. Pyrrha tucked everything away into her bag and stepped out of the stall, and then back into the hallway.</p>
<p>Pyrrha followed the hallway to the back of the hotel and found the private entrance. From previous visits to the hotel with her agents, she knew that this area, too, was devoid of cameras. She made it to the street and hailed another cab. She told the driver to take her to a cafe near her apartment in Vale. Just in case she was still being tracked, Pyrrha walked into the cafe as the cab drove away.</p>
<p>Pyrrha ordered a simple sandwich and water, which she consumed as she walked around the block to her apartment. Slipping into an alley between a laundromat and a tea shop Pyrrha punched in the code on her door and stepped inside.</p>
<p>Once the door was closed, Pyrrha peeled the wig off and shook out her hair as she walked up the private stairs to the living area. As she reached the door, she heard two voices arguing inside, which stopped as soon as she turned the handle.</p>
<p>The door had barely shut behind her when she was overwhelmed by someone shouting her name and engulfing her in a hug. It was Emerald; the girl had developed an unhealthy attachment to Pyrrha after she had plucked Emerald off the streets. At first, Pyrrha had tried to ignore the girl, but that proved wholly unsuccessful, so instead, she had sat her down and set some boundaries. Pyrrha made it clear that she would not be able to return Emerald's affections as she was not inclined <em>that way</em>. However, if Emerald wanted to think of her as a sister, she would be okay with that. Emerald was still overly affectionate quite often, but a part of Pyrrha that she would barely acknowledge didn't really mind.</p>
<p>"Hello Emerald," Pyrrha briefly wrapped her arms around Emerald before she gently pushed her away. As they disentangled, Pyrrha asked, "Is Cinder still here?"</p>
<p>It was Mercury who responded, "No, she left already to make sure everything is prepared for when you get there."</p>
<p>"Well isn't she playing the good girl today," Pyrrha said as she walked into the main room, "I'm just glad I get to oversee this in person. You wouldn't think it but pretending to be nice for so long is exhausting. Enjoy being yourselves for the next few weeks because once you three come to Beacon, you will be stuck doing it too."</p>
<p>She let an overly cheery smile cross her face; Mercury shuddered.</p>
<p>"Mercury, call Cinder, let her know I will be down soon, and ask her to brief me on any potential problems." Pyrrha turned to Emerald, "Come, I need your help to get ready."</p>
<p>Emerald nodded and followed her to Pyrrha's room.</p>
<p>Once inside, Pyrrha stripped off the secretary disguise she had worn getting there.</p>
<p>"So what were you and Mercury arguing about before I got here?" Pyrrha asked as she began pulling on the legs of a thick black bodysuit.</p>
<p>Emerald looked down, "You heard that?"</p>
<p>Pyrrha nodded, twisting her arms into the suit, "Zip me up?"</p>
<p>Emerald wandered forward and pulled up the zipper on Pyrrha's back, "It was nothing important. You know how the two of us are; we just needle each other until we fight over something stupid. It doesn't help that we're cooped up here all the time either. We're not exactly the sit around sort of people."</p>
<p>"It's just for a little longer," Pyrrha soothed as she pulled on a pair of knee-high boots with fire-blackened metal greaves integrated into them. "I need you three to keep out of trouble before you come to Beacon. I can't have you blow your cover before you even get there."</p>
<p>"Do we really need to go up there?" Emerald was almost whining.</p>
<p>Pyrrha sighed. They had gone through this discussion several times. "You know the plan, Emerald. I need you. You are the linchpin for much of the plan."</p>
<p>Pyrrha was pulling a heavy black leather corset over her head as she spoke and arranging it so secured her breasts. Pyrrha then indicated at her back, and Emerald once again came over to tie her in.</p>
<p>"But Mercury and I will be so out of place, you know we never had conventional schooling."</p>
<p>"Don't worry, Emerald. Lionheart will have you registered as fourth-year students. Classes will be optional for you. Speaking of Leo, remind me to tell Cinder she no longer needs to look for a fourth member for your infiltration team. According to the last briefing from Haven, General Ironwood is entering a two-person team from Atlas, so Leo has used that precedent to set you Cinder and Mercury up as a three-student team."</p>
<p>Pyrrha next pulled on a cuirass that was fire-blackened like the greaves, but its edges were trimmed with crimson and gold. As she tightened down the straps on her sides, Emerald spoke, "That's too bad she was really set on recruiting Torchwick's little sidekick."</p>
<p>Without looking, Pyrrha could hear the smile on Emerald's face as Pyrrha continued to dress, affixing a thin pair of pauldrons to her shoulders that matched the cuirass. "I would never have allowed that anyway," Pyrrha was firm, "Torchwick will be running things in Mountain Glen. He will need his lieutenant until the moment before the train leaves. We only have her on-lend to drive the ambulance after Mercury's performance."</p>
<p>Pyrrha stood and grabbed a belt with two armored plates that matched the cuirass and pauldrons hanging from either side that she secured around her waist before lacing the plates to her upper legs so they wouldn't bounce around.</p>
<p>"Have you decided who Merc's dance partner will be yet?" Emerald asked.</p>
<p>Pyrrha was lacing down a pair of bracers that matched the greaves of her armor as she replied, "Not yet, but I've got it down to two choices. Though one will be significantly easier to rig the tournament for than the other, so we will probably go with her."</p>
<p>"Well, Cinder, won't be happy. She seems to enjoy playing with other people's toys" Emerald snickered, and Pyrrha joined in</p>
<p>"Can you come over here and help me with my hair?" Pyrrha held out a brush to Emerald.</p>
<p>Over the next thirty minutes, their conversation moved towards idle chatter as they slowly worked Pyrrha's hair into an intricate set of braids wrapping around her head with the leftover piled at the back. Once they were finished, Pyrrha stood once again to put together the final elements: first, she snapped a black hood into the collar of her cuirass, a black and gold scarf was then wrapped around her neck, a black and red scarf was affixed around her waist using a pin in the shape of what she considered her true emblem a jagged spear pointing down in a blood drop, she put on a black mask which from which a black lace veil hung down to cover her lower face the mask was attached to a thin gold tiara that Pyrrha carefully worked into her elaborate hairdo, the final touch was her weapon Styx a long spear who's tip matched the design on her alternate emblem.</p>
<p>Pyrrha ran Styx through its forms: the long spear for general combat, a rifle for range, and shortened mode for travel and close quarters. Giving it a final spin, Pyrrha attached the weapon to the mag-plate on the back of her cuirass.</p>
<p>As Pyrrha pulled up her hood, she turned to Emerald a cold note crept into Pyrrha's voice, "What is my name?"</p>
<p>Pyrrha watched Emerald shiver slightly; she whispered, "Fyre."</p>
<p>"That is correct." Pyrrha had to do this with Emerald as there had been a few close calls where Emerald had almost called her "Pyrrha," so this had become their ritual.</p>
<p>They left the room and found Mercury lounging on the couch. "Looking good, Fyre, as always."</p>
<p>Pyrrha rolled her eyes at Mercury's antics, "What did Cinder say?"</p>
<p>"Oh, you know," Mercury drawled, "the usual. She told e that she had it covered and that you really shouldn't bother yourself to come down."</p>
<p>"You did tell her I was already here, right?" Mercury only nodded in response to Pyrrha's insincere question.</p>
<p>"Are the two of you ready to go?" Pyrrha waited for each of her subordinates to nod.</p>
<p>"Alright," Pyrrha walked to a small table by the door to the apartment and picked up the keys to the car she kept at the place.</p>
<p>"Mercury, you're driving." Pyrrha tossed him the keys.</p>
<p>"Got it, boss," Mercury casually snatched the keys from the air.</p>
<p>Emerald sat in the front with Mercury. Pyrrha knew she wanted to sit in the back seat with her, but she did not want Mercury to get the impression that he was lower than Emerald.</p>
<p>The drive itself was quiet. There wasn't anything to talk about. None of them were actually participating in the night's festivities. Pyrrha had found it difficult to connect with Mercury. He was only there for the money, a fact which was always apparent in his dispassionate demeanor.</p>
<p>Eventually, they arrived at that night's base. Torchwick hated other people running things from his lair, so he maintained a series of safehouses for when he coordinated with others. Tonight's location was an unassuming deli on the border where the commercial district met the dockside warehouses.</p>
<p>Mercury carefully pulled the car around to the delivery entrance. They had barely stopped when Emerald jumped out and raced around to Pyrrha's door to open it for her. A smile was hidden behind her veil as Pyrrha stepped from the car.</p>
<p>Pyrrha stepped towards the building's entrance. Behind her, she heard two car doors slam, and her associates fall into step behind her. She quickly covered the distance to the door and tapped out a simple pattern on it. Taurus' lieutenant opened the door.</p>
<p>Though his mask hid his entire face, Pyrrha could still see his distaste for her in the way he held his body tense, coiled, ready to strike her. As if he would get that far.</p>
<p>Her musings were cut short by a loud thump from upstairs. Taurus' man made to go up; his hand reached towards the oversized chainsaw on his back.</p>
<p>"Stop." The man looked at her, and Pyrrha let a burst of flame wreath her right eye. "I'll handle it."</p>
<p>A deep growl came from him, and Pyrrha heard Emerald on her right shift towards her weapons. Pyrrha held her hand out in front of Emerald, and she relaxed.</p>
<p>Pyrrha stared into the lieutenant's eye-slits. "Rest assured; I need everyone upstairs alive. I will not let anything happen to your boss. However, your little display down here is costing me time, so if you could step aside?"</p>
<p>Though the lieutenant didn't relax, he did allow Pyrrha to pass. Pyrrha then swiftly made her way upstairs following the sounds of the argument, finally arriving at a room cleverly marked, "Control Room."</p>
<p>Pyrrha through the door open, and the arguing temporarily stopped as Torchwick and Taurus turned to look at the new arrival. Pyrrha, though was looking for someone else and found her quickly. Sitting on a couch to the side was Cinder, her legs crossed and a smile which quickly disappeared from her face when she made eye contact with Pyrrha.</p>
<p>"Cinder?" Pyrrha's tone was sickly sweet, "Mercury told me that you had everything under control. Apparently, one of you was lying," Pyrrha swept her hand across the room for emphasis.</p>
<p>Cinder glowered and made to speak, but Pyrrha held up her hand, tiny flames licking her finger-tips, "I'll hear your excuses later."</p>
<p>"So gentlemen," Pyrrha turned to the other two occupants of the room, "Is there something I can help you with?"</p>
<p>Torchwick was the first to speak, "I didn't do anything. All I said was that Taurus' guys would need to be on the top of their game tonight."</p>
<p>Taurus immediately rounded on Torchwick, snarling at him, "That's not what you said, and you know it." Taurus straightened and continued in a smoother tone, "I don't know why I bother with you. We can do this ourselves," He turned to Pyrrha, "For ourselves."</p>
<p>Fire exploded from Pyrrha's eye and coiled up her arm at her side as she stared Taurus down. "I was under the impression we had worked this out already?" Despite the flames erupting from her right side Pyrrha's tone was like ice, "You can do a lot of things on your own Taurus, but not everything I have planned. If you want to strike the blow I promised you, then you will <em>sit down.</em>" she gestured to the chairs in front of the wall of monitors.</p>
<p>Taurus finally backed down and took a seat at one of the chairs. From the corner of her eye, Pyrrha saw Torchwick seem to perk up.</p>
<p>He thinks he's one-upped Taurus Pyrrha thought.</p>
<p>Pyrrha then turned her gaze to Torchwick and watched him shrink slightly. She started into him with the same tone, "And you, I have no doubt you said something more offensive than, 'Good luck,' I would ask that you try to at least pretend to be civil with Taurus. Need I remind you he is providing far more than you are. I <em>need </em>Taurus' men I would merely prefer to have your skills."</p>
<p>Deciding that Torchwick was suitably dressed down, Pyrrha decided to dismiss him, "Now then, Torchwick, shouldn't you be down at the warehouse prepping the bullheads?"</p>
<p>"It's fine, Neo's handling it; I still have plenty of time to get there." Roman trailed off at the end as Pyrrha indicated the door with her left hand.</p>
<p>"Though I suppose I should go make sure everything wraps up on time." Torchwick's recovery fell flat, and he briskly left the room. A minute later, a car started in the garage downstairs. As the sound faded, the tension in the room faded.</p>
<p>Cinder coughed, and Pyrrha rounded on her, "We are not done with this. However, we will put it on hold until everything is done tonight."</p>
<p>When Cinder silently nodded, Pyrrha finally let the maiden's power disperse. She took the chair next to Taurus in front of the monitors. She barely caught it, but as she sat down, Taurus gave her a slight nod. Pyrrha just tipped her head to the screens choosing not to acknowledge the subtle gesture.</p>
<p>"What are we looking at here?"</p>
<p>Taurus grunted seemingly in protest but ultimately began pointing things out. Six of the screams displayed live feeds from the gun-cameras of the bullheads' chin turrets. Three showed hacked feeds from the docks security cameras. One pointed each direction down the street. The last of the cameras pointed inwards. Currently, it showed the dock workers closing up for the night. In the center of its view was the stack of SDC crates.</p>
<p>Pyrrha asked another question, "Do we have control of any of the cameras, or can we only see what they are pointing at?"</p>
<p>Cinder answered this time from the sofa, "Unfortunately, all the dock's cameras are fixed. Similarly, we can't control the bullhead cameras because that would interfere with the gunners' use of the weapon. All we can do is watch."</p>
<p>Pyrrha checked the time on her scroll and then leaned back in her chair. "We have over three hours until everything starts. Should we get something to eat? I saw a nice deli on the way here."</p>
<p>A wave of affirmatives rippled through the room. Pyrrha had Emerald take orders from everyone. Pyrrha also reminded Emerald to ask Taurus' man if he wanted anything. About twenty minutes later, Emerald came back with their food.</p>
<p>Conversation over the next two hours was strained at best. Taurus sat in his chair and kept his back to the rest of the group. Cinder was her usual ironically frosty self whenever Pyrrha was involved. Mercury was never much of a conversationalist, and Emerald was always hesitant to talk with Pyrrha when they were out for fear of slipping up. This left only Pyrrha to make any sort of conversation, mostly unsuccessfully.</p>
<p>Slowly time ticked by, but eventually, Taurus grunted, and Pyrrha swiveled towards the screens. The four feeds from the bullheads were moving. Each one was slowly making its way out of the warehouse and then skimming across the bay to the dock.</p>
<p>The first several minutes of the mission went off without a hitch. No alarms were raised as the bullheads pulled up over the dock and touched down to let the White Fang crews out. However, things quickly began to deteriorate seconds after Torchwick stepped from the bullhead. There was no audio, but they could see him ordering the White Fang Members around. And then suddenly, a blade was at his throat, and a head of black hair peeked out over his shoulder. It was Blake.</p>
<p>Taurus roared.</p>
<p>Pyrrha could hear his lieutenant then thundering up the stairs. As he neared the door, his chainsaw could be heard revving. The lieutenant then kicked in the door, "I'm here, Boss. Who's the problem."</p>
<p>Thankfully, he seemed to stop short when he saw that nobody was fighting. "Umm. Boss. What's up?"</p>
<p>Taurus rounded on Pyrrha, his furious roar eventually giving way to shouted words, "I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE! SHE'S RIGHT THERE, I'M LEAVING!" Taurus moved to the door and beckoned to his lieutenant.</p>
<p>"HALT!" Pyrrha launched a fire-ball at the top of the door frame where it exploded, singeing the brick but not lighting anything on fire. Everyone turned to look at her; her eye and arm were once again wreathed in red-flame. "You are not going anywhere, Taurus. I was not lying when I told Torchwick earlier I need you. If you go galavanting across the city as you are now, there is every chance you will be captured, and that is something I am willing to deal with. So, you are going to sit back down and watch what happens on the screens like a proper comander. If you are lucky, Torchwick will capture your runaway, and you can try to sort things out with her. Until then. Sit. Down."</p>
<p>Taurus looked about, ready to tear her apart but slowly, he deflated and sat back down. They watched as Torchwick began beating back Blake and some blonde monkey faunus with her. It took a few minutes, but it looked like Torchwick, and the White Fang would wrap things up with the two interlopers. And then Torchwick was distracted by something off to the side, apparently up on the main dock building. He fired up at it, and off the roof fell a dark-haired girl with a familiar weapon and red cape.</p>
<p>"Oh, for Brothers' sake." Pyrrha cursed. How had Ruby managed to interfere with her plans once again? She Constantly seemed to turn up wherever she was least wanted.</p>
<p>Taurus turned to her, "You know her?" He was seething again at the apparent rescue team.</p>
<p>"Yes," Pyrrha replied, "She's interfered with one of our robberies before."</p>
<p>They watched as Torchwick fired at Ruby again, knocking her scythe away. Ruby then looked up at the building from the floor and shouted something. Torchwick also looked up.</p>
<p>The area around the screens was now crowded as everyone in the room pushed together to view the relevant monitor. A new figure swung into view, this one a wirey red-head surrounded by a halo of blades.</p>
<p>"What about that one," Taurus asked.</p>
<p>Pyrrha muttered a negative response watching with quietly mounting anger as the newcomer rapidly demolished the entire heist. Torchwick barely escaped on the single remaining transport.</p>
<p>Pyrrha's voice was low and ice-cold with anger, "Taurus, I think we are done here. See yourself out, would you?"</p>
<p>He turned to her as if to protest but seemed to think better of it and beckoned his lieutenant, and they quickly left.</p>
<p>Pyrrha looked at her reflection in one of the black screens that once held the numerous bullhead cameras. Brilliant crimson flames ringed her right eye, and her right arm was coated in a layer of ice that let off wisps of vapor.</p>
<p>The outburst disappeared after a few breaths. Pyrrha stood and turned to her three associates. "Come, we're going to visit Torchwick. At home."</p>
<p>Mercury nodded. They weren't supposed to know where Torchwick's main lair was, but Cinder, in one of the few times she decided to be proactive, had delivered Pyrrha the address to Pyrrha without Pyrrah ever asking Cinder to find it. Pyrrha had sent Mercury out a few times to check that it was legit and so he would know how to drive them there in such an event as this.</p>
<p>The drive was silent as Pyrrha silently fumed next to Cinder in the back seat. When they arrived, they saw the telltale blast patterns that showed a bullhead had recently touched down in the yard behind the apparently derelict warehouse.</p>
<p>As they stepped up to the door, Pyrrha reached out with her semblance and rearranged the tumblers in the lock to open the door. Pyrrha stepped in, followed by Cinder to her right, Emerald to her left, and Mercury directly behind her. Torchwick was bent over a table on the far side of the room, struggling to light a cigar. Pyrrha snapped her fingers, and the tip of the cigar flared with a bright red flame before mellowing down to the normal smolder.</p>
<p>Roman snapped his head to the sound as it echoed around the room, "You're not supposed to be here. Hell, you're not even supposed to know where here is."</p>
<p>Pyrrha let the flame on her fingers grow until it was a bright red ball as she opened her hand. Venom filled her voice, "Don't be naive, Torchwick. Cinder looked into where you lay your head as soon as we started working together. It was important just for times like this. This job was supposed to be simple. So, tell me, Torchwick, how on Remnant did this happen?"</p>
<p>Torchwick fumbled as he tried to compose himself, "Hey! You were the one who made me work with the stupid mutts from the White Fang."</p>
<p>"That's not what I meant, and you know it. The general competency of the White Fang members had very little to do with tonight's outcome." Pyrrha dimmed the flame before she continued, "I'll ask again. What. Went. Wrong?"</p>
<p>Torchwick tried and failed to hide his sputtering behind a long drag on his cigar. Eventually, he spoke, "Well, I'm sure you saw, I have never seen a weapon that powerful on a huntsman before. That little girl was like a living weapon."</p>
<p>Pyrrha reached out with her semblance and flipped the light switch while dismissing the maiden powers. She then turned to Torchwick, "Good, you identified the problem, now we just need to solve it. At any other time, I would have recommended your lieutenant for the job. However, given that you are now drastically far behind in the amount of dust you need to collect, I think she can be put to better use helping you wrangle the White Fang to catch up."</p>
<p>At the mention of the White Fang, Torchwick sputtered. Pyrrha caught on and held up a hand, "Yes, I still expect you to work with them. As I said, their competency was not the issue tonight."</p>
<p>Pyrrha turned on her heel and began leading her group to the door. "Torchwick, you are lucky that I built a significant buffer time into my plan, so we are not off schedule yet. I expect you back at work Monday. Oh, and Torchwick, don't try to move out, I'll think you don't trust me."</p>
<hr/>
<p>AN: Holy cow guys, gals, and the rest I actually finished something. Well, not finished, but it is an endpoint of sorts. The end of V1.</p>
<p>I know not a whole lot has changed yet for an AU but we haven't gotten that far into the story. Just wait for Pyrrha to start being more proactive. So far she has underestimated how infuriating Team RWBY is to villains; that will stop next volume.</p>
<p>I have had a few reviews regarding shipping for my story so I will address that here. This specific story will not have any specific shipping in it. I only plan for this story to go to V3. After that, there will be a sequel where I will start jumping heads so I can tell Team RWBY's and JN_R's reactions to Pyrrha's inevitable reveal. (There is no other reason for me not to jump heads in this story other than I decided early on that this story would only be told from Pyrrha's POV as a challenge for myself and as a break from the 8+ POV characters in my other fic)</p>
<p>Okay, time for thank yous!</p>
<p>First, I want to thank all of you readers who have come and supported my strange work.</p>
<p>Second, reviewers, I know it's not everyone's thing so I won't beg for them but for those of you who have written to me know, I appreciate you.</p>
<p>And lastly a personal thank you once again to Ravell Aqim without whom this fic would not exist in its current form. They are a great writer themselves and I highly encourage you to check out their story <em>Fallen Maiden </em>if you have enjoyed this one so far.</p>
<p>One final note, this fic will be going on hiatus until the beginning of June 2021 to allow me to finish my time at college. I will see you all then!</p>
<p>As always I'm on Twitter Accipiter_Ater if you want to get in touch with me.</p>
<p>You can also find me on other social media sites under the same name (Discord, Reddit) if you are uncomfortable with Twitter for some reason.</p>
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